The nation

My coworker and friend "Do you know who I am?" the Irishman is a great one, that's for sure. He's developing his own little nation, much like Ireland but without so much religious strife. He left me some fun messages on the voice mail tonight. It just reminds me that he'll really miss us when we leave town. I'll really miss him (and his wife) too. :)

Okay, enough of the sappy posts. I'm really worked up lately about the Indian people groups. I'm not mad or offended; I just think there's so much more to the story than we ever hear in history class. My next opinion: we're blind to our ignorance and rudeness to people who aren't like us.

Some tools

Randy Woodley writes in his Living in Color that Satan uses tools of division and uniformity to try and control God's plan for diversity and unity. He makes an interesting point by saying that humans often ignore their diversity, opting instead divide themselves according to their differences. Once those divisions are made, people in each division seek a culture that is uniform with their "in" group. Of course, he is referring to large cultures or racial groups.

Could this be something Christians do? Do we divide ourselves along lines of how we worship, how we interpret theology, where we worship? Do we demand a uniformity of other Christians under the assumption that all Christians do things one way? Where does diversity and unity fit in the Church theologically? How about in worship?

Family Distance

Sometimes family distance sucks. I really miss my brother. He is such a wonderful guy. I just miss him like crazy. I want him to move here. What makes it worse is that I really like his wife, and I miss her, too. They are a great couple, and I miss them. My heart is heavy for them today because I long to hang out with them. Yes, I'm sooky. :)

Testimony

Our small group has experienced the Lord on several occasions recently. A couple of weeks ago the Lord healed me of some bitterness and unforgiveness I didn't even know I had! You can imagine, then, that I had some pretty high expectations for last night's discussion.

The discussion, on "soul ties," taught about the healthy and unhealthy connections we develop with other people. The discussion centered largely on the unhealthy ones, calling us all to freedom from those connections. The thing was that I didn't necessarily sense any unhealthy connections. After listening to the recorded teaching, we all talked for awhile. We also prayed. The Lord helped me to see how some unhealthy connections to my family were wreaking havoc in my spiritual life. I prayed to break those connections, not knowing how things would change. Oddly enough, after I prayed I felt light and free! The Lord has done something powerful, and I cannot wait to see how this healing manifests in my life!!

If You Marry a Singer...

...prepare to have your heart moved in unexpected ways. Sometimes the singer you marry will write you a song that makes you want to shout your love to the world even though the song leaves you speechless. There aren't words for what happened the other night. Many of you who were at the recital saw what happened, but you just can't know. I want to tell you, but my singer wife took my breath, words, heart, and love away. If only there were adequate words to put into an amazing Natasha post....

This goes without saying (though I'll write it anyway), but the Lord is AMAZING! How could He know that I'd need this? How could He create two people, bring them together, and put them in a place in which their love for one another only made them both stand in awe at their love for Him? If Natasha loves me enough to write the perfect song, the Lord loves me enough that His expressions are a symphony. He has wowed me with the wife He created just for me.

If you marry a singer...

...be prepared. At some point in your marriage you'll get a night like tonight in our home. We've traversed skies of styles and wandered continents of content. Right now it's "Hopelessly Devoted" (not bad), but a minute ago it was "There Are Worse Things I Could Do." And we're going through the entire songs. To think we started this evening with worship. Pretty soon "Therapy" will get into her head for the fourth day in a row. She'll mumble through the words until...you guessed it..."Go drop dead!"

And I actually think this is endearing. Somewhere in there, I must be crazy. Oh well, if you can't beat them...

"I'm gonna love you like nobody's loved you, come rain or come shine." (I'll finish the rest of it offline.)